Monday, March 4, 2013

Silberman Makes Mockery of Women and the NFL

Well in one afternoon Lauren Silberman has made a mockery of the National Football League, and set womankind back one giant step. Last year, the NFL made their regional combines open to women, and one year later, Silberman stepped on the football field and became a laughing stock.

Silberman's first attempt at a kickoff sailed a whopping 19 yards and her second went a more embarrassing 13 yards. She then complained of a quad injury and called for a trainer.

The injury was a sham as was the tryout and anyone who watched the event was aware of it. Silberman had to get assistance to properly place the football on the tee and her form was at best a joke. She tried zero field goal attempts.

At the risk of angering women everywhere, I must be honest. I don't believe women should play in the National Football League. I have seen kickers take hits, and on occasion give hits that, in all honesty, would kill a woman. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a female kicker out there somewhere who could drain a 35 yard field goal in the Super Bowl, but that doesn't change my opinion.

I'm not sure at what point equal rights became the idea that everybody had to do every single thing that every other person does. Why men and women can't have things they do opposite each other and still get along, I'll never understand. There are a multitude of things that women do better than I, athletically and otherwise, and I have no problem admitting it. I also have no problem admitting that there isn't a woman on the planet that can take a blindside hit from a special teams NFL player running a 4.4 forty and leading with his helmet.

It has come out recently that there is a strong belief Silberman was intentionally doing this as a publicity stunt, and that would stand to reason, but that sucks for all the men trying out that were really hoping for their shot in the NFL. All Silberman did was waste a lot of coaches time and in all likelihood piss them off in the process.

If we are so dead set on blurring the boundaries between male and female, then we should open up the Miss America Pageant to men (actually I'm surprised that hasn't happened) and we should allow men on the women's softball team at Alabama (not that they need us).

If Silberman had been standing on the deck of the Titanic and freezing water had been lapping at her feet, I wonder what her reaction would have been when the man in charge of the life boat yelled women and children first. My guess is she would have elbowed her way to the front screaming I'm a woman the whole way.

All Silberman did for women, who one day might be serious about becoming an NFL kicker, is put a barrier in their way and for that, as a man, I owe her a debt of gratitude.